Palaces, Ponds, and the Hall of Adornment-Banner
Beyond the trees, the grove of Universal Adornment reveals its own architecture — a million halls, towers, and palaces, ten thousand bathing pools filled with water of eight excellent qualities, and at last a vast hall named Adornment-Banner, perfumed by two named kings of incense.
A Million Halls, Ten Thousand Pools
Every structure in this grove is counted precisely — a million halls of maṇi jewels, a million towers of gold, a million palaces of Vairocana jewels, ten thousand bathing pools ringed with balustrades and stairways of the seven treasures, their own water calm, fragrant, and gently populated by birdsong.
其地清淨無有高下，於中具有百萬殿堂，大摩尼寶之所合成；百萬樓閣，閻浮檀金以覆其上；百萬宮殿，毘盧遮那摩尼寶間錯莊嚴；一萬浴池，眾寶合成；七寶欄楯，周匝圍遶；七寶階道，四面分布；八功德水，湛然盈滿，其水香氣如天栴檀，金沙布底，水清寶珠周遍間錯；鳧鴈、孔雀、俱枳羅鳥遊戲其中，出和雅音；寶多羅樹周匝行列，覆以寶網，垂諸金鈴，微風徐搖，恒出美音；施大寶帳，寶樹圍遶，建立無數摩尼寶幢，光明普照百千由旬。
That ground was pure, without any rise or fall, and within it there were a million halls, formed entirely from great maṇi jewels; a million towers, covered over with Jambūnada gold; a million palaces, adorned with Vairocana maṇi jewels set alternately throughout; ten thousand bathing pools, formed entirely from every kind of treasure; balustrades of the seven treasures surrounding them all around; stairways of the seven treasures laid out on all four sides; water of the eight excellent qualities, calm and full, its own fragrance like heavenly sandalwood, golden sand spread across the bottom, the water clear with jeweled pearls set alternately throughout; wild ducks, geese, peacocks, and kokila birds played within it, producing gentle and elegant sounds; jeweled tāla trees stood in rows all around, covered with jeweled nets, hung with golden bells, gently swayed by the soft breeze, constantly producing beautiful sound; great jeweled canopies were spread out, surrounded by jeweled trees, and countless maṇi-jeweled banners were raised, their light universally illuminating a hundred thousand yojanas.
其地清淨無有高下 — that ground was pure, without any rise or fall. Before naming a single structure, the passage first flattens the ground itself — no hill, no hollow — as though the grove's own perfection required first removing every ordinary irregularity the earth would otherwise have.
A Hall Named Adornment-Banner
Beyond the pools, lotus flowers made entirely of treasure bloom across the water's own surface, and at the grove's own center stands a vast hall — ground of ocean-treasury jewels, pillars of beryl, roofed in gold — perfumed by two incense-kings whose own names, Aruṇa and Awakening, hint at what waits inside.
其中復有百萬陂池，黑栴檀泥凝積其底，一切妙寶以為蓮華敷布水上，大摩尼華光色照耀。園中復有廣大宮殿，名：莊嚴幢，海藏妙寶以為其地，毘瑠璃寶以為其柱，閻浮檀金以覆其上，光藏摩尼以為莊嚴，無數寶王光焰熾然，重樓挾閣種種莊飾；阿盧那香王、覺悟香王，皆出妙香普熏一切。
Within it there were further a million ponds, their beds thick with black sandalwood mud, every kind of wondrous treasure forming lotus flowers that bloomed across the water's own surface, their light and color shining bright as great maṇi flowers. Within the grove there was further a vast palace, named: Adornment-Banner, its own ground made from the ocean-treasury of wondrous jewels, its own pillars made of beryl, covered over with Jambūnada gold, adorned with light-treasury maṇi jewels, countless jewel-kings blazing with light, its towers and pavilions decorated in every kind of way; the Aruṇa incense-king and the Awakening incense-king both emitted their own wondrous fragrance, universally perfuming everything.
覺悟香王 — the Awakening incense-king. Among every treasure and structure named in this grove so far, this is the first whose own name points directly at the dharma rather than at wealth or beauty — a small signal, placed just before the hall's own description ends, of what this entire grove is actually oriented toward.
Part 944 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty-four. Part 945 turns to the hall's own interior — ten named lotus-thrones and a hundred million kinds of canopies, nets, and lights, each one described in turn before Rest-and-Release herself finally appears.